Late Bronze Age

The Late Bronze Age (1500-1000 BC) was the last portion of the Bronze Age era of the emergence of human communities. Empires such as New Kingdom Egypt, the Assyrian Empire, Hittite Empire, and the Mycenaeans flourished during this time, but by 1200 BC all of them had fallen.

Greeks
In Greece, the two main civilizations were the mainland Mycenaeans and the islander Minoans of Crete. The Minoans were a naval empire that had trade connections, and they had beautiful artwork and palaces. They were conquered by the Mycenaeans, who destroyed every palace and building outside of Cnossus, which they took over. Mycenae adopted Minoan culture, while itself being a mixture of Greek and Indo-European cultures. The Mycenaeans were aggressive, having colonies in Asia Minor that were friendly and hostile to the Hittite Empire at times. The Mycenaeans were eventually conquered by the Dorians, who ruined their civilization.

Hittites
The Hittite Empire flourished in Anatolia (present-day Turkey), and they expanded into the Armenian Highlands and south into Syria and Lebanon. They formed an army of charioteers, and at 1285 BC they fought Ramesses II of Egypt to a draw at the Battle of Kadesh. Using a new system of metallurgy, the Hittites became a major empire, but they were eventually raided by the Sea Peoples, causing them to fragment into the Neo-Hittites.

Assyrians
The Assyrian Empire flourished in Mesopotamia, with their capital at Ashur. The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pilesser III formed an army of professional soldiers that were available at all times, and the Assyrians invaded Armenia to the north, Turkey and Syria to the west, Iran to the east, and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to the south. The Assyrians conquered several civilizations and created a grand empire, but they were conquered in 612 BC by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Iranian Medes.

Egyptians
New Kingdom Egypt prospered as a large trade and military empire after the ousting of the Hyksos invaders by Ahmose, and the Egyptians expanded to create buffer zones. They conquered Nubia (Sudan) to the south and forced the people there to convert to the Egyptian culture, while in Syria-Palestine they instead formed several reinforced garrisons and cooperated with local rulers. However, the Kingdom of Kush would go on to invade Egypt from the south and conquer the empire.